Going for breakfast and a quick look out indicated
that there was no rain falling. The Weather Network showed no rain in Milwaukee
to Delafield but there was plenty around.

When we left there was a warm wind. With temperature
in the low 10’s degrees Celsius, I was dressed up but the warm wind
meant that I would dress down as soon as the 4 kilometres ride to the Glacial
Drumlin State Trail was completed.

By that time, showers were in the air. For the
rest of the short ride today the showers turned more to rain, stopped, and
then came with gusto in Milwaukee. When the motel was reached in Downtown
Milwaukee, most of the clothes we were wearing were wet.

Why, with wet gear in the pannier? Personal
decision not to wear full setoff rain gear. Get wet instead. Guess I was
not expecting the high winds and amount of rain in the city.

The ride today was totally on paved surfaces.
With the rain, thanks goodness.

With wet gear as we reached our room the air
conditioning got turned off and the heat turned on. All we got was fast
moving air. It seems that the central heating system of the city has not
been turned on. The room is very humid with all that wet clothes and shoes
and there is no heat source to dry them. The motel was going to bring a
space heater up but not so far. Guess, a reminder will be given later. We
really need these things to be dry as another rainy day is in the forecast
for tomorrow but with less participation.

We got in this place early today with expectation
to inspect the supposed large amount of bike lanes. High winds in the downtown
core and heavy rains made us desire to remain indoors. So much for our assessment.
Guess we will still see some tomorrow as we head south towards Illinois
and Chicago.

Riding the roads in Milwaukee with the wind
and the downpour, guess some salts got beyond the skull cap and into my
right eye. The pain started up. The eye started blinking. Working through
construction area it was getting difficult to navigate. Slow speed resulted
and frequent stops trying to wipe the salt from the inflamed eye. Not much
luck. Off came the eye glasses with a hope that the wind would dry the eye
and that the helmet’s beak would keep the driving rain off my eyes
so that I would have some vision. In a way, it was good that there was construction
on the neighbouring road with some closures. It kept the traffic down so
that there was plenty of road space for any vehicles and me weaving forward
with blinking eyes.

For lunch, we wanted to get some sushi. Asking
the front desk brought the expected answer “I do not eat that stuff”.
We did get a recommendation to go to the neighbouring grocery store, upscale
about 3 blocks away. It was neither that bad nor that good, either.

Cycling
Facilities

Cycling into Milwaukee

Cycling into Milwaukee really started in Dodgeville
some 200 kilometres to the west. From there, most of the trip was on bike
trails with occasional sections on roads. Many of these roads had a low
volume of motorized vehicle traffic. Some had paved shoulders. Others did
not. Some of the trails were interconnected. Others were not and required
some road cycling.

Today, the trip included the Glacial Drumlin
State Trail, the New Berlin (Greenfield) Recreational Trail, and the Oak
Leaf Trail.